Breaking: Wu to resign after debt-ceiling vote

posted at 12:54 pm on July 26, 2011 by Ed Morrissey

“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be a United States Congressman. Rare is the nation in which an immigrant child can become a national political figure. I thank God and my parents for the privilege of being an American,” Wu said in a statement.

“Now, however, the time has come to hand on the privilege of high office. I cannot care for my family the way I wish while serving in Congress and fighting these very serious allegations.

He’s not going away immediately, however:

But Wu added he will remain in office through the ongoing debt limit negotiations.

“The wellbeing of my children must come before anything else. With great sadness, I therefore intend to resign effective upon the resolution of the debt-ceiling crisis,” said Wu. “This is the right decision for my family, the institution of the House, and my colleagues. It is also the only correct decision to avoid any distraction from the important work at hand in Washington.

Why bother? A debt-ceiling vote in the House is not likely to be a close-run affair regardless of which version gets a floor vote. There is an outside chance that a single vote could carry the day, but it’s exceedingly small. By the same reasoning, Wu could argue that bailing out on his district will prevent those voters from having representation on another several months of critical votes, some of which may be close than the vote will be on this issue.

This is apparently the outcome most desired by House Democratic leadership, but it’s hard to understand why. Wu’s district (OR-01) is a safe Democratic hold in regular elections, with a D+8 advantage in the Cook index. It’s not even clear that Wu would have lost a re-election bid in 2012, but even a non-incumbent Democrat should have held that seat with Barack Obama at the top of the ticket. Now Oregon will have to call a special election to fill out the remainder of Wu’s term, and a Republican could take advantage of the oddities of special-election turnouts to grab the seat. It’s not likely to happen, but the odds are better than in the next election.

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Dem resigns.
Republicans start dreaming big dreams of winning an unwinnable seat.
A poll will come out in a few weeks showing the Rep within 6%.
Desperate pleas for money will go out from the RNC.
Lots of people will be duped into sending RNC money.
Actual vote will be Dem 61, Rep 35.

“The wellbeing of my children must come before anything else. With great sadness, I therefore intend to resign effective upon the resolution of the debt-ceiling crisis,” said Wu.

“The well-being of my children must come before anything else…well, except the democrat party, and my president’s re-election chances, and figuring out how to stay out of jail, and making sure I’m taken care of, and…, and…m and… Well, ok, but my kids are still pretty high on the list right?”

Look, if resigning is the right thing to do to protect your family, it’s the right thing to do. You can’t put preconditions on it.

Alabama school superintendent laments immigration law. Stfu and educate instead of pontificate. It’s all about the lambs on the plantation, money and power. May they all be stricken from their high posts for their charlatanry. That includes Brown.

Thank you. I only asked because I can’t believe even a liberal douche bag can get away with something like this. It turns out though the truth did not come out until the statute of limitations was up on the offense. He admitted to it in 2004 and the contact occurred in the 1970’s.

Thank you. I only asked because I can’t believe even a liberal douche bag can get away with something like this. It turns out though the truth did not come out until the statute of limitations was up on the offense. He admitted to it in 2004 and the contact occurred in the 1970′s.

NotCoach on July 26, 2011 at 1:13 PM

Well no actually. That was an old case where he tried coercing an ex-girlfriend into having sexual relations with him after they broke up. The current case involves a 2010 high school grad and the alleged unwanted sexual encounter occured at Thanksgiving 2010

While officials from the Obama Administration raised their rhetoric over the weekend about the possibility of a debt default if the debt ceiling isn’t raised, they privately have been telling top executives at major U.S. banks that such an event won’t happen, FOX Business has learned.

..this is absolutely the most corrupt administration this nation has ever seen.

After the debt vote? I can just hear Granny McBotox now: “We need all of our child molesters, tax evaders, bribe takers, and pants droppers — now! Everyone on the floor to vote! You can post bail afterward!”

The Oregonian ran an editorial today saying that Wu should resign.
I guess when you’ve lost the liberal rag you throw in the towel. Trust me, nothing will happen to Wu. It’s all good in Portlandia as long as you’re a Dem.

Well no actually. That was an old case where he tried coercing an ex-girlfriend into having sexual relations with him after they broke up. The current case involves a 2010 high school grad and the alleged unwanted sexual encounter occured at Thanksgiving 2010

Special Elections can produce all sorts of unexpected results since the voter turnouts are generally low. Add a sex scandal, a prolonged recession, an active Tea Party movement, whatever mistakes the Democrats might make, and the growing power of the internet to that equation and this could be the best chance in a long time to actually defeat a Democrat in Portland. And wouldn’t that send a chilling message to the Democrat party?

Even if the Republican candidate doesn’t win the election, their campaign can help to build a stonger foundation for future campaigns for themselves or other Republican candidates.

At the very least, having a viable Republican candidate would keep the Democrats on the hot seat by providing a platform for the Republican to explain in the media why people should never ever vote for Democrats.

The Democrats already have candidates who are interested in running for this Congressional seat.

BTW, remember that the media’s assertion that the Republican controlled Congress was a “Culture of Corruption” was their claim that GOP leaders knew about and were hiding Foley’s behavior. It sounds like everyone knew Wu was nuts and demonstrated very erratic and immoral behavior.